Now comes the brilliant Robert Griffin III, the rookie quarterback for the Washington Redskins who mystified and captivated throughout the NFL season, only to have his career put at risk during a playoff game in which he caused even the opponent to cringe every time he attempted to scamper across a pocked field.

So yes, do save some compassion for a patch of the country that doesn’t often deserve emotions beyond disgust or scorn. For today it must be an especially dank and bitter place to exist.

This is not to suggest that sports fans who live in or around Washington, D.C., are anything but fine, upstanding folks. But when we think of the DMV (as in D for the District, M for Maryland, V for Virginia), we tend to imagine bureaucratic government autobots who cackle as they devise ways to drive the rest of the country bonkers.

But after what occurred Sunday, those who weathered Daniel Snyder’s shenanigans to finally reach the team’s first home playoff game in 13 years—those who affix plastic hog noses to their faces; those who rock Portis jerseys and believe all Redskins kickers are cursed; heck, even those who foolishly read political elections through gridiron tea leaves—deserve our pity.

The latest news to emerge Monday from FedEx Field hardly brightened the situation. Besides again defending his awful decision to not remove a clearly hobbled Griffin from Sunday’s wild card game against the Seattle Seahawks, a glum Mike Shanahan revealed that his franchise QB would need additional tests before his future can be determined.

According to The Washington Post, Griffin has "partial tears" of the ACL and LCL in his right knee. An MRI Sunday night following the 'Skins' 24-14 loss to the Seahawks were, as Shanahan said, "open to interpretation" because of previous injuries to Griffin’s ACL and MCL. In 2009, he tore his ACL while he was at Baylor University, causing him to miss the remainder of the season. And so Griffin will on Tuesday visit renowned go-to orthopedist James Andrews in Florida for more evaluation and an expansive physical exam. Andrews, of course, is the same physician/Redskins’ game-day consultant who reportedly never cleared Griffin to re-enter a Dec. 9 game against Baltimore after Griffin suffered a knee injury.

"There is a concern," Shanahan said. "That's why he's going to see him."

Washington sports fans, welcome again to your moment of doubt and pain.

So many questions continue to float. While Andrews is considered the Knute Rockne of his field—his patient list ranges from Michael Jordan to Tom Brady to Albert Pujols—surely he’s not the only orthopedic surgeon on the East Coast with a magic scalpel.

Nonetheless, Griffin must wait until the esteemed doctor returns from his sideline spot at Monday’s BCS National Championship Game. It could be an awkward meeting, considering Andrews’ comments over the weekend directly contradicted those made by Shanahan after the Week 15 game.

That’s when the coach told reporters he allowed Griffin to return to action only because Andrews had cleared him. But Andrews’ memory of the moments following the brutal hit Griffin suffered against the Ravens initially differed greatly.

“He (Griffin) didn’t even let us look at him,” Andrews told Robert Klemko of USA Today. “He came off the field, walked through the sidelines, circled back through the players, and took off back to the field. It wasn’t our opinion. We didn’t even get to touch him or talk to him. Scared the hell out of me.”

Andrews has since developed slight amnesia, saying he can’t remember if he and Shanahan had a conversation. Shanahan on Monday described the moment from last month: "When Robert runs back on the field, I looked over to Dr. Andrews and said, 'Is he OK?' and he said, 'Yes, he's OK.' So when you ask him that and he says he's OK, you don't ask him, 'Did you look at him? Do you watch him run around? Did you give him a test?' He said he was OK, so that's why he went back in the game."

As if we needed another reminder why physicians ought to be employed by the NFL and not individual teams. There’s too much politesse, too many coaches who in the blur of violence would rather not know, too many players who fear the fate of Alex Smith.

Griffin understandably refused to admit what everyone could see Sunday after he aggravated the injury in the first quarter. We’ve learned enough about his core DNA this season to know he’d do whatever it took to continue the magic ride. He finally was forced to exit the game after a fourth-quarter botched snap caused his heavily braced knee to buckle and bend awkwardly, painfully, and he spent the remaining moments alone on the bench.

He won’t join the chorus of those who’d like to see Shanahan brought before a congressional inquiry for alleged extreme coaching negligence while failing to be a medic or a mind reader. Tweeted Griffin on Monday: "Many may question, criticize & think they have all the right answers. But few have been in the line of fire in battle."

Athletes do love comparing themselves to soldiers. In this philosophical line of thinking, Shanahan was the general who should have acted like one. He insisted he kept on checking with his rookie QB throughout the game, only to be assured by Griffin that he was hurting but not injured. Trouble is, as fans of the Denver Broncos are sure to scream, this general does have a history of not exactly being overly concerned about the safety of his players.

“Players know when they can’t play,” Shanahan insisted.

Barely four months ago in the same city, against a backdrop bright with the same crazy hopes, there raged another controversy involving a rising star who played a glamorous position and guaranteed TV ratings through the stratosphere. Stephen Strasburg’s rehabilitation from Tommy John surgery led to a team-ordered September shutdown, even while the young pitcher insisted he could soldier on.

Politicians, the media, the chattering class and casual fans gnashed their teeth and debated the decision. A wondrous season that saw the Nationals gain their first playoff berth since moving to D.C. ended in flames, in a devastating NL Division Series loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.

Sports fans around those parts thought they had experienced the worst. They didn’t know the half of it. The rest of the country’s empathy might even last until pitchers and catchers report.